: i don't feel i have problem being deaf because i have an established communication system using sign language. third girl: well, i have been able to listen and speak, and to me, that's the greatest thing in the world. narrator: these individuals have a genetic disorder called usher syndrome. each was born with hearing loss, often complete deafness, and all have retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that causes slow, progressive loss of vision. the typical case, ok, is one, a son or a daughter, originally diagnosed as having a hearing loss and then eventually within several years later, usually as a preteen or teen, diagnosed with the retinitis pigmentosa, and the family is thunderstruck because there's nobody else in the family with a hearing loss. there's nobody else in the family with any kind of visual problems other than grandma, who had cataracts. so, how could this happen? narrator: paul molloy has usher syndrome. he is profoundly deaf and legally blind. he and his wife, who is also deaf, have two children who are hearing and sighted. paul lives on long island and commutes daily to
